St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-01
The secretary,s Report.

The exhaustive report prepared by
Secretary J.P. McGaughey, of Mime
apOlis, contains much valuable infOrma-
ton on the progress of cooperation in
the United States. In addition to the
extracts published in Sundays GLOBE
the following is of interest:
To the President and Members of the GEN
eral Cooperative Board: In submitting to
you report of the cooperative board, can
One meeting was held by the board at Phila-
delphia to get in working order, but the legis-
latiOn enacted at Richmond and the report
of special committee on legislation from the
Cleveland session. left us SO much in doubt
as TO the relation we held to the order, that
during the past year l have done nothing
more than to ascertain the extent and in
tensity of the cooperative spirit in the order
In this have been as successful as / could
have expected, large correspondence has
been developed and 1 am satisfied that CO.
operation is q living spirit in the order
During the year there has been quite an ex-
tensive demand for. cooperation by the
order and for the order. The pre-
poses of the order to establish cooperative
institutions both productive and distribu-
tive" Then the work should beaundertaken
by the order, and all members should take
part in the work, and the institutions SO es-
tablished should be the property of the order,
and used to further the purposes of the
order.
The word cooperation by itself has so
broad a meaning that it designates nothing
more than working together. Before the
board legislates on the subject of co-opera-
ton, the general assembly should decide
what kind of cooperation it desires to estab-
lish.
An American writer referring to English
cooperation says: 81 have studied the trend
of the movement to learn the lesson it has
for us. The result of that study is a conyic-
ton that the dividend hunger is as great in
the ranks of the co-operators as anywhere
outside, and that the stress of competition is
beginning to be felt among their cooperative
institutions so that the cooperative move
ment in England has settled down to mere
shopkeeping. But let us learn u lesson thatwe
may profit thereby, over that magnificent pile
of wealth, over all that great concourse of
men, over all that assembly of intellect and
zeal, over all those golden opportunities. APP
pear the sad words 1T has no programme
1t is the logical and inevitable outcome of
that cooperation which seeks to give profit
to capital. as opposed to that cooperation
which seeks to give opportunity to labor
While this may have been true at the time
the writer makes his criticism, it is only JUS
tice to say that the English co-operators
have long seen the point and are on a fair
road to remedy the evil, by productive and
agricultural work.
same author says this is the question of all
questions for us. What shall our programme
be? Grand Master Workman Stephens SAYS.
and it has been reiterated time and again by
the present general master workman, Ito
rescue the toiler from the grasp of the sell
fish, to ameliorate the condition of man.
kind" / assume that the worker must own
the material ne works upon before he can fix
the price of his labor hence in arranging our
programme we must seek q means by which
we can establish the ultimate aim of the
order, social and industrial peace
III establishing cooperative system of
production, we must also establish a CO.
operative market. Brother Grigsby. in an
address delivered before District Assembly
70, says: I'm this lies the promise: aye the
certainty of success So now if We start
with the idea that we are consumers as well
as producers, we will soon become self
employe d. Organization of the market is as
important as the organization of the pro-
ducers. If this idea is adopted. in what
direction will it lead us! That we must have
our own lands, mines and fisheries, indus
md women busily working. no idlers
or dependents. We realize the impossibility
of discussing the details of such an immense
undertaking.
resource of the order should be turned in
this direction, but that such duties should be
entrusted to only carefully selected board.
Land, as a security for the money or labor
than any other form of property.
Organized agriculture, as the foundation
on which the mechanical arts and many
forms of manufacturing can be based, would
give opportunity for return in large degree
to village life. with its healthful, social and
mental effects. Brother Rankin, of the CO.
operative farm, of Grow Wing Mimi. says:
The chief source of wealth Is the land on
which we tread. The broad bosom of mother
TO be without a share of the soil. to be fii.
yorced from the work of cultvating it and
reaping the rewards of industry that spring
up bountifnlly from the we'll cared for fields
and gardens, is to be in stale of insecurity
and general poverty. Give us the land and
VIC will give you 5ack the fruits Of the land
in The form CT r.-1ng- linbed. slron hearted